Your mileage may vary with “Warcraft” if you choose to check it out on Netflix. For those who haven’t played the games, it basically reads like a generic high fantasy story. It goes heavy on the CGI, with many of the main non-human characters being fully animated and played through motion capture. The “humans vs. orcs” story is a tale as old as the genre itself, and there isn’t a ton here that’s going to change up that tried and true narrative. In other words, you already know what you’re in for.
Cast-wise, the film has a couple of fun surprises. Travis Fimmel leads the way as the Azeroth knight Anduin Lothar, with Paula Patton co-starring as the half-orc heroine Garona. If you’re a fan of the more recent Planet of the Apes movies, you’ll recognize some of the names behind the performance-capture roles, as Koba actor Toby Kebbell plays the orc chieftain Durotan, and Terry Notary (who played Rocket) helped supervise all of the mo-cap performances. “Into the Badlands” star and martial arts legend Daniel Wu also appears, and Glenn Close even has a bit part.
A deeper familiarity with the Warcraft games may actually diminish your enjoyment of the film, as it isn’t particularly loyal. The series had several entries prior to the success of “World of Warcraft,” but the movie doesn’t really tap into that history or the deeper lore.
